Seaside man is sentenced to eight years in prison for dealing fentanyl resulting in overdoses and death.

A 21-year-old Seaside man was sentenced to eight years in prison in U.S. Federal Court in San Jose yesterday for distributing fentanyl that caused overdoses in two people and killed one of them, a U.S. attorney and Drug Enforcement official announced in a Justice Department press release. The case was as a result of an investigation in 2020 by the Pacific Grove Police Department and the DEA.

The sentence was handed down as a result of Xavier Robledo pleading guilty on Feb. 8 in federal court to two counts of distributing fentanyl in 2020.

As part of his plea, Robledo admitted to selling three counterfeit Oxycodone, fentanyl-laced pills known as “M30” pills to someone in mid-April 2020. He delivered the pills, which he knew contained deadly fentanyl, to the person who later overdosed and was found unresponsive by law enforcement. The victim survived.

In May 2020, Robledo delivered a counterfeit pill laced with fentanyl to a man who overdosed and later died in a hospital. Robledo knew the man because weeks earlier he had delivered drugs to the victim while he was in a drug rehabilitation facility.

“M30 pills sold on the street are often laced with fentanyl, a cheap and deadly substitute,” said U.S. Attorney Stephanie M. Hinds in the release. “These counterfeit pills mimic Oxycodone, but they can be killers in disguise. The mismeasurement of even a microgram of fentanyl can have lethal consequences. We urge all to stay away from fentanyl sold on the street in any form it takes.”

“The death and destruction caused by fentanyl knows no boundaries. From coast to coast this poison is devastating families,” said DEA Special Agent in Charge Wade R. Shannon. “Holding accountable those, like Robledo, who ruin lives with their criminal actions is our priority.”

In addition to his prison sentence, U.S. District Judge Beth L. Freeman ordered Robledo to pay restitution for, among other things, the funeral costs of the person who died. Robledo was also ordered to serve three years of supervised release following release from federal prison.

Fentanyl has been a growing problem in Monterey County in recent years. Doctors and law enforcement saw a dramatic increase in fentanyl-related overdoses and deaths in the fall of 2019. The problem did not abate during the pandemic and continues to be a major challenge.

Pacific Grove recently saw the death of a 15-year-old boy due to a fentanyl overdose in March, which prompted a town hall to educate parents and others about the dangers of the drug.

According to the Spring 2022 newsletter from Prescribe Safe, an initiative by Montage Health focused on decreasing opioid use, there was a dip in overdoses in January and February with a sharp increase in March, with 53 overdoses that month.

A device Prescribe Safe was able to obtain through a grant called TruNarc, which Monterey County law enforcement agencies use to test confiscated drugs, has been showing so far in 2022 the presence of fentanyl, methamphetamine and cocaine, as well as acrylfentanyl, a fentanyl analog which is even more powerful than fentanyl itself.